Hopper feed



1951 A. c. FRANKWICH 2,579,486

HOPPER FEED I iled Oct. 10, 1946. 2 Sl-IEETS-SHEET 1 FIG.

lNl/EN TOR V A C. F RA NK W/CH .4 TTOR/VEV Patented Dec. 25, 1951 TENT OFFICE HOPPER FEED Alexander .0. Frankwich, Baltimore, Md., assignor .to 'Western Electric Company, Incorporated,

New York,.N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 10, 1946, Serial No. 702,493

' 2.:Claims. (01. -467) This invention relates to hopper feeds, and more particularly to hopper feeds for orienting and feeding insulating discs in a coaxial cable forming machine. 1

In automatic assembling machines of various types, such as, for example, machines for applying insulating discs to central conductors to form coaxial cable core units, small articles, such as discs, washers, nuts, bolts, or the like, are placed in hoppersin unoriented positions. The'articles are oriented and are fed'from the hoppers to guide chutes which direct the articles .toward their place of assembly. .In feedingsucharticles from the hoppers to the guide chutes, it is essentialto prevent jamming of the articles so that uninterrupted feed of the articles from the hopper may take place, and injury to the articles and apparatusis avoided.

An object of the invention is to provide new and improved hopper feeds.

A further object ofthe inventionis toprovide new and improved hopper feeds for feeding insulating discs from hoppers to guide chutes uninterruptedly Without jamming the discs.

A hopper feed illustrative of the invention includes a hopper having a vertical slot in a side wall thereof. A vane having a groove along a portion of an upper edge thereof for receiving insulating discs is mounted for oscillation in a Vertical plane in the hopper. The vane is provided with an arcuate portion concentric with the axis of oscillation of the vane, which arcuate portion fits closely against the top of the slot in the hopper wall. The groove in the vane communicates with a passage extending through the arcuate portion thereof to the guide chute. 'The grooved upper edge of the vane is substantially chordal to the arcuate portion of the vane so that, as the vane oscillates, the arcuate portion of the'vane seals the slot in the hopper wall and the upper edge of the vane is prevented from approaching thechop- Der Wall closely enough to jamwashers thereagainst.

A complete understanding of the invention may beobtained from the following detailed description of a hopper feed forming a specific embodiment thereof, when read in conjunction with the appended drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary, verticalsection of an apparatus including a hopper feed forming one embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, vertical section taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, substantiallyvertical section taken along line 33 of Fig. 2; v

Fig. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary section taken along line .--4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary section taken along line 55 ofFig. 2;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged, fragmentary, vertical section taken along line 6-6 in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 7 is an enlarged, fragmentary, horizontal view taken along line 7-4 of Fig. 1.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, there is shown in Fig. 1 an apparatus for applying insulating discs 16-46 to a conductor H to form a core unit of a coaxial cable. The discs are fed by a hopper feed l2 to straight guide chutes I4 and I5, which are disposed vertically. The discs are propelled by gravity down the vertically disposed guide chutes i4 and 15 and the discs in the guide chute i 5 are fed into notches l 6-16 formed in an applicator wheel I! by a plunger I8, the height of which is less than the diameter of the discs ill-H). The complete apparatus, of which the hopper feed I2 forming the subject matter of this application is a part,'1's disclosed and claimed in copending application Serial No. 702,491, filed October 10, 1,946, by S. E. Brillhart, which has since matured into U. S. Patent No. 2,579,468, granted December 25, 1951.

lhe plunger i8 is urged to the right, as viewed in Fig. 6, by a compression spring 20, but is prevented by a cam 2i carried by the applicator wheel I! from moving to the right except when one of the notches i6l6 is in a position to receive one of the discs and the cam engages a cam follower 22 carried by the plunger. The discs I6i 6 fed to the applicator wheel I! pass through a notch 25 formed in a U-shaped guide 26, which holds. the discs centered in the notches l6l6 while the wheel ll moves the discs over a knife 36 (Fig. l) which forms radial slits in the discs. The wheel I! moves the discs along a thin arcuate guide 3i positioned to enter the slits and keep the slit discs oriented. A wedge-shaped expander 35 expands the slits gradually to ,a condition in which the discs may be wiped onto the conductor without contact between the major portions of the walls of the slit and the slits.

On each movementof the plunger I8 to the right, as viewed in Fig. 6, the plunger 18 moves one of the discs !6|0 into one of the notches it-i 6 whichis in a notch-receiving position, and in so doing moves the lowermost one of the discs in the guide chute i 5 out from under the remainder of these discs; The remainder of the discs then drop upon a relieved portion 32 of the plunger 18 While the plunger is at its farthermost position to the right. As the plunger is moved back to the left from this position by the cam 2|, a jiggling finger 33 projecting above the relieved portion 32 of the plunger moves the column of discs in the guide chute upwardly to dislodge any of the discs which might possibly stick in the guide chute I5.

The movement of the plunger l8 to the left continues until the finger 33 moves out completely from under the column of discs in the guide chute I5, and the column of discs then drops to the bottom of the guide chute I5. The total height of the plunger I8 and the finger 33 is slightly over half of the diameter of one of the discs I8|8 so that the plunger engages the discs |8-I8 at the centerline of the discs and does not slide under the discs as it is moved toward the right, as viewed in Fig. 6. However, in the operation of the plunger I8, the discs in the guide chute |5 drop somewhat over half the diameter of one of the discs as the plunger I8 is moved to its farthermost right position, and as the plunger I8 is moved to the farthermost left position; the finger 33 of the plunger I8 moves the column of discs upward enough to dislodge any stuck discs. The plunger then permits the discs to drop the combined height of the finger 33 and the plunger 8, which height is substantially less than the diameter of one of the discs. The dropping of the discs in the guide chute I5 through the distance of the diameter of one of the discs in two almost equal steps during each reciprocation of the plunger insures that there is sufficient time for the lowermost one of these discs to reach the bottom of the guide chute I5 before the movement of the plunger I8 to the right begins, even at very high operating speeds of the plunger I8. The jiggling finger 33 continually jiggles the column of discs in the guide chute I5 to prevent sticking of the discs in the guide chute and thereby insures continuous feed of the discs down the guide chute.

The discs |8-|8 are fed down the guide chute I4 and are fed into an applicator wheel 31 positionedbelow the wheel H by means of elements similar to the plunger I8, the cam 2| and their associated elements. A knife 48 (Fig. 1) slits the discs and the wheel 31 moves the discs along a thin guide 4| and a wedge-shaped expander 44, and applies the discs on the conductor II. The expanders 34 and 44 and their associated elements are described and claimed in copending application Serial No. 702,494, filed October 10, 1946 by A. C. Frankwich.

The hopper feed I2, which comprises one embodiment of the invention, includes a hopper 58 having an opening 5| (Fig. 2) for placing the insulating discs |8-|8 in an unoriented condition into the hopper, and also includes a side wall 52 provided with a vertical slot 53 therein. The hopper is also provided with a bottom slot 55. A vane 88 is keyed to a shaft 6| whose axis is located slightly to the right of and below the side wall 52 of the hopper 58, as viewed in Fig. 2. The shaft 6| is rotatably mounted in bearings 62--82 (Fig. 1), and is oscillated by an arm 65 connected by a link 66 to a suitable crank (not shown). The shaft 6| oscillates the vane 68 between a position in which the vane is shown in full lines in Fig. 2, which position is its lowermost position, and a position in which the vane is shown in broken lines, which position is its uppermost position.

When the vane is in its lowermost position, the dlscs |8-|8 in the hopper 58 fall edgewise into grooves I8 and II extending along an upper edge 12 of an arcuate blade portion 13 thereof. Th9

' tion, the discs |8-I8 slide downwardly to the left in the grooves 18 and II and pass through passages 88 and 8| formed in the vane 68. The entrance portions of the passages 88 and BI are straight and are aligned with their respective grooves 18 and II, and the remainder of the passages 88 and 8| are arcuate with the axis of the shaft 6| at the center thereof. The passages 88 and 8| are aligned with and run into arcuate grooves 98 and 9| (Fig. 4), which have the axis of the shaft 8| as their centers. V

A portion 92 of the periphery of the vane 88 is coextensive with the grooves 98 and 9| and.

is concentric with these grooves. The depth of the grooves 98 and 9| is substantially equal to but slightly larger than the diameter of the discs |8-|8. Tangential deflecting portions, of which a tangential deflecting portion of the guide chute I4 is shown, rest upon the bottoms of the grooves 98 and 9|, and deflect the discs |8--I8 out of the grooves 98 and 9| into the guide chutes I4 and H5. The upper right hand edge, as viewed in Fig. 2, of the guide chute I4 conforms substantially to the curve of the bottom of the groove 9| A raised guard portion I88 of the vane 88 ex.- tends arcuately from the upper edge I2 of the blade portion 13 of the vane concentrically with the passages 88 and 8| and terminates at the right ends of the grooves 98 and 9|. The periphery of the guard portion I88 is spaced substantially outwardly from the outer periphery of the passages 88 and 8| and is spaced close to the upper end of the slot 53 in the side wall 52 and serves to close that portion of the slot. The length of the guard portion I88 is such that the guard portion I88 blocks the slot 53 throughout the path of movement of the vane 68 in its oscillation thereby preventing escape of the discs from the hopper 58, but is short enough that the guard portion does not strike the guides H or I5 when the vane 68 is oscillated to its broken line position, as shown in Fig. 2.

The height of the guard portion I88 is such that when the vane 68 is in its uppermost position, the blade portion I3 of the vane is spaced a substantial distance from the side wall 52 of the hopper 58, which distance is sufiicient to prevent jamming of the discs between the wall 52 and the edge 12 of the blade portion. Also, the blade portion I3 is provided with a relieved portion I 8| at the end thereof adjacent to the guard I88, which increases the clearance between the side wall 52 and the outer edge 12 of the blade portion when the vane is in its uppermost position. However, the depth of the grooves I8 and H coextensive with the relieved portion |8| is equal to the diameter ofthe discs I 8|8, and the flared entrance portions I6 and 11 are not present in these portions of the grooves so that the discs in the hopper do not tend to enter these portions of the grooves directly from the hopper.

The guard I88 is provided with slots I 8 and III extending from the periphery thereof to the passages 88 and 8|. The width of each of the slots I and III is not enough that the discs can enter the slots H0 and HI. Arcuate guides I and [2| are designed to project into the slots H 0 and I I l respectively, and to prevent the discs from leaving the grooves 90 and 9| in the vane 60 when the vane 60 is in its lowermost position, thereby preventing jamming of the discs. The guides I20 and I2! serve to guide the discs into the guide chutes l4 and I5, respectively.

In the operation of the hopper feed 12, the vane 68 is oscillated between its lowermost and its uppermost positions and receives the discs l0--l 0 in the grooves 1'0 and H when in its lowermost position. The discs slide downwardly by gravity along the grooves 10 and H, the passages 88 and 8|, the grooves 90 and 91 and the guide chutes I4 and 15 when the vane is in its uppermost position, at which time the vane is tilted sufficiently to cause the discs to slide down the grooves 19 and II therein. .However, when the vane is in its uppermost position, the upper edge 12 thereof is spaced a sufiicient distance, a distance greater than the diameter of the discs, from the sidewall 52 that the discs are not jammed between the vane and the side wall 52. Also, the outer periphery of the guard Hill is spaced sufiiciently above the bottom of the hopper 50 that any discs which may be slid onto the guard I06 may freely drop oil? of the guard. During the oscillation of the vane 60, the guides [28 and 121 keep the discs l0-l0 in the grooves 911] and 9|, respectively, and guide the discs directly to the guide chutes l4 and, I5, respectively, thereby preventing jamming of the discs passing to the guide chutes.

The vane 60 serves to keep the guide chutes l4 and I5 filled with the discs Hil6 so that the discs may be fed uniformly to the applicator wheels 11 and 31 (Fig. 1). The above-described hopper feed 12 serves to efiectively supply the guide chutes l4 and I5 with insulating discs and does so without any jamming of the discs. The guard I00 permits the vane to be tilted greatly while keeping the vane spaced from the side wall 52 of the hopper 50 so that the discs are not jammed between the upper edge 12 of the vane and the side wall 52 even though the vane is tilted sufiiciently to insure sliding of the discs down the grooves 10 and H thereof. The abovedescribed hopper feed is simple and inexpensive in its construction, and is highly effective in its operation.

The oscillation of the vane 60 is slow so that the discs in the hopper areagitated only enough to insure proper feeding thereof to the vane. As a result, formation of static charges on the discs is minimized. This substantial prevention of static charges on the discs prevents sticking of the discs in the guide chutes I4 and 15 thereby eliminating jamming from such sticking.

What is claimed is:

1. A hopper feed, which comprises a hopper having a slot formed in a side wall thereof, a vane mounted in a vertical plane and also being mounted for oscillation about a predetermined horizontal axis spaced near said side wall, said vane having an arcuate portion concentric with the axis of oscillation thereof, said arcuate portion extending through and serving to seal the slot in the side wall of the hopper, an upper edge of said vane being joined to the arcuate portion thereof along an extension of a chord of the arcuate portion, said upper edge having a groove formed therein for receiving articles and for guiding the articles to the arcuate portion of the vane, said arcuate portion having a substantially completely enclosed passage extending through the interior thereof from the groove for receiving the articles from the groove, the end of said passage adjacent to the end of the groove being in alignment with the groove, at least a portion of said passage extending in an are having the axis of oscillation of the vane as its center, a second arcuate portion concentric with the firstmentioned arcuate portion and having an open, arcuate groove forming a continuation of the arcuate portion of the passage, means for oscillating the vane between predetermined limits, means for holding articles in the arcuate groove, and means mounted tangentially with respect to the arcuate groove and resting on the bottom thereof for defleeting articles out of the last-mentioned groove.

2. A hopper feed, which comprises a hopper having a side wall provided with a slot lying in a vertical plane, a vane disposed vertically in the hopper and having a horizontal axis of oscillation near the slot in the side wall of the hopper, said vane being provided with a groove having a predetermined width and extending along an upper edge thereof for receiving articles, one end of said vane projecting through the slot, a shaft mounting the vane for oscillation about said axis, a portion of said groove extending along said end arcuately about the axis of oscillation of the vane, said end of the vane being provided with an arcuate, segmental guard portion positioned concentric with and over a part of the length of the last-mentioned portion of the groove starting with the beginning of that portion of the groove for preventing articles from being displaced in that portion of the groove and for sealing the upper portion of the slot in the wall of the hopper, said guard portion being provided with a slot positioned over a part of the length of the lastmentioned portion of the groove and having a width substantially less than that of the groove, a guide chute extending tangentially from the open portion of the arcuate portion of the groove, an arcuate blade concentric with the last-mentioned portion of the groove for maintaining articles in the open portion thereof and being designed to have the slot in the guard portion pass thereover during a portion of the movement of the vane, means for guiding articles from the arcuate portion of the groove into the guide chute, and means for oscillating the shaft to oscillate the vane through an angle through which the guard portion spaces the top of the point of the groove at the juncture thereof substantially from the side wall of the hopper to prevent jamming of articles in the hopper.

ALEXANDER C. FRANKWICH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 678,827 Morris July 16, 1901 821,946 Marshall May 29, 1906 884,211 Rodd Apr. 7, 1908 1,149,553 Crehan Aug. 10, 1915 1,244,466 Buehler Oct. 30, 1917 

